Search - All the Flowers Are Dying

The latest of the "Matthew Scudder" series. Very good and enjoyable read.

**Spoilers!**I've been reading the Scudder novels for 20 years or so and count Block as one of my favorite writers. This seemed more like a James Patterson novel, gruesome and salacious. It has graphic sex, torture, and murder scenes from the killer's point of view, and those chapters are written in italics, which I found annoying. I finally just skipped those chapters and read the Scudder POV. The serial killer kills young boys and that was particularly nauseating. It just didn't seem like a Scudder novel. The last third of the novel picked up, but then ended with a graphic rape scene of Elaine. The writing is not as tight as his other novels. If you want one with the same basic story line, read A Ticket to the Boneyard. That one is much more like the Block writing style I've admired for so many years. I actually threw Flowers in the trash when I finished it.

lawrence block is always great

A gripping sociopath tale, with interesting and likable protagonists.